Making Our Organizations “Best Places to Work” | 049

Making Our Organizations “Best Places to Work” | 049

Welcome to Lean Leadership for Ops Managers, the podcast for leaders in Ops Management who want to spark improvement, foster engagement, and boost problem solving – AND still get their day job done. Here’s your host, Leadership Trainer, Lean Enthusiast, and Spy Thriller Junkie, Jamie V. Parker.
[00:00:29] What makes organizations the best places to work? You hear me say it all the time:
While work is made up of processes, organizations are made up of people.
That’s right. People are the heart of any organization.
You know, as I talk with executives and senior leaders right now, there’s a common theme I’m hearing. They’re worried about attracting and retaining people for a variety of reasons. They’re kind of struggling to fill open positions, and that’s pretty consistent. And that’s putting a strain on the people who are working. So these organizations, these folks I’m talking with, they’re raising wages. They’re trying to get creative, but they’re nervous. With virtual work more common, we’re seeing some adjustments in migration patterns of where people are choosing to live. That also opens up the possibilities of where people could work beyond the businesses in their local communities.
So as I talked with executives, they’re telling me that, you know, hey, they’re not really expecting some miraculous influx of population to solve their problem, which means they’re asking this question.

How do we build an organization where people want to work and tell everyone how great it is?
So let’s talk about it. I’m going to talk through a model I’ve been building. There might still be some variations to it over time, but if you want to see it, you can head over to https://processplusresults.com/podcast/ to follow along with the visual.
[00:02:10] What are people looking for? What do we want? Well, I will describe what makes an organization the best places that people want to work in four parts and to make it easy to use words that start with the letter P. So let’s talk about four elements.

[00:02:26] Number one purpose. Purpose is the why that binds. We want to do meaningful work. And for a lot of folks, when they hear that maybe you when you hear meaningful work, you might actually think about health care and non-profits and teaching. And you’re left thinking, well, in my company we make this . . . we make plastic parts, we make packaging equipment, we provide janitorial services. And that doesn’t feel so meaningful all the time.
Well, here’s the thing, purpose doesn’t have to be some big altruistic service focused what. The key is that I feel a connection in what I do and why it matters. And when I work with organizations on purpose, we go well beyond a purpose statement. It’s really all of the True North which could include purpose and vision and core values and principles and what that means for the people in the organization, the heart of the organization.
So first is purpose.

[00:03:32] Number two, participation, participation is what turns purpose into action. It translates values from posters on the wall to who we are in the everyday, and it gives us our sense of belonging. Employees, people, we . . . We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. And while purpose is the start of it, there’s this other piece of belonging and relationships with people.
Keep in mind that participation is active, it’s the act of taking part or sharing in something. It also means that we’re heard, seen and valued. It’s the contribution we make and the human connection that we long for, and that makes an organization a place where people want to work.
So second is participation.

[00:04:30] Number three, performance. Now for some people, performance can initially bring up some negative thoughts because they’ve had experiences of bosses pushing them to hit the numbers at whatever cost, you know, for the good of the organization or the department. Well, that pressure through all of that command and control management isn’t what people are looking for. But people do care about performance.
We want to do the right thing. We want to contribute. We want to be helpful and we want to win.
That’s right. People want to win. We want to realize achievements. Our brains are literally wired for it with things like dopamine. Winning and achievement in our own individual performance, as well as the performance of our team or department or organization. I mean, if we’re going to put this much time, energy and effort into our work, then let’s at least win.
And that’s why organizations aren’t the only ones who want achievement. Team members want it to.
So third is performance.

[00:05:39] Number four, progression. We, people, team members . . We do not do particularly well with stagnation. We get bored, we get into a rut, and so we’re looking for progression. Progression could be career progression where we advance in positions or maybe same level lateral moves to different departments to broaden what we’re learning. Or it could be progression within the same role. So don’t mistake progression for career advancement only.
Someone can be in the same role for years, for decades, but still get the benefit of progression as they learn new skills and build expertise. Maybe honing their craft or being asked to train new team members and contribute in that way and progress their capabilities through that activity. Maybe being asked to contribute on projects or give their expertise to a new product or customer planning process, applying it in different ways.
Here’s a thing in all of these scenarios, we’re talking about growth of some sort, progression of some sort, which feeds an inner desire to move to be in movement. It’s a repulsion from staying still, from stalling out, from stagnating.
So fourth is progression.

[00:07:01] Now, let’s take these four: purpose, participation, performance and progression and map them on a model. Imagine a circle with four quadrants and if you’re at a place to draw, you can draw along or you can always head over to phttps://processplusresults.com/podcast/ to see a visual aid.
So draw a plus sign with a circle around it so that you have a circle with four quadrants.
In the top right, you have purpose. Bottom right is participation. Bottom left is performance. And top left is progression.

[00:07:34] Now draw or imagine another circle that goes around this first circle, just another layer on the outside, if you will. And that layer, that outside circle is your fifth P – personalization. When I just talked about progression, I started talking through it could be this or it could be that, or it could be something else in different ways. You see in all four of these – purpose, participation, performance and progression – people want personalization.
I mean, just think about purpose as an example. The way I connect with the organizational purpose might be different from the way you connect with organizational purpose. So it means you can’t just have programs or standards or consistent expectations that apply to everyone.
We want personalization and flexibility. Meaning that I, as an individual, matter. My needs matter, and that my needs and desires might be different from someone else’s, it really means that the people that I work with, my leadership, we’re building relationship and that leaders are considering the individual as we lead them.

[00:08:42] So when I have that personalization built in around all four of these PS here’s what I end up with.
Purpose plus participation leads to meaningful work and a sense of belonging. Participation plus performance leads to making a difference and a feeling of accomplishment.
Performance plus progression leads to the sense of fulfillment.
Progression plus purpose leads to legacy. That I as an individual, I grew and I did something that mattered and my impact lasts beyond the immediate. It’s just one of my gifts to the world. There are lots of other gifts I leave the world as well.
But this legacy and it doesn’t always have to be just directly, 100% all in on the work. If we want to build great places, the best places to work, where people want to work there and they tell everybody how great it is. Remember that personalization? For legacy for some people, the way organizations, the way our workplaces contribute to how we can leave a legacy is tangential to the work.

[00:09:49] So here we go. This is my model for building an organization where people want to work and brag about it.
The four PS in the quadrants of the circle are purpose, participation, performance and progression, all enveloped by personalization.
And at the center where they all meet. When I get all of those things happening together, then as the team member, I put my heart into my work. So right in the middle where the horizontal and vertical lines of the plus side meet right smack in the middle. There’s a heart.
And I don’t just stay at the company. I don’t just not leave. Right. I don’t just stick around and not leave.
I am engaged. I am committed. I am eager. I am open.

[00:10:31] And here’s where things get crazy, because as a team member, I’m engaged, committed, eager, open, learning, exploring, putting in effort. And all of these things are exactly what executives and leaders want in their organizations. It’s exactly what organizations are trying to cultivate. In fact, think back to those four Ps in the quadrants: purpose, participation, performance, progression.
These are what organizations want too.
When we can match these up, when organizations develop leaders who can give these things to team members through their relationship based leadership . . . Through the way they interact with team members . . . Through how they tell, ask and listen in the relationship between people . . . Then it’s a win-win.
In fact, it goes hand in hand with results. So it’s a process plus results, respect for people plus continuous improvement, personalization plus team cohesion. And people-focused culture plus a competitive edge.

[00:11:38] Now, here’s a thing, this doesn’t work if you’re paying substandard wages and you don’t offer benefits and all that jazz. You’ve got to pay a living wage, you’ve got to be competitive, you’ve got to give team members opportunities to provide for their families and to save money for their future and to get the health care coverage they need. That’s the right thing to do. And you can’t really claim respect for people if you’re not doing that. So if you have gaps in those areas, close them.

[00:12:04] But also know this, as long as you’re relying on your wages and benefits to be the thing that attracts and retains people without addressing the culture side, without creating an organization where people want to work, then you will be disappointed.
In the next few episodes, I will dig into this model in more detail. I’m going to talk about it from an organizational viewpoint and a leadership viewpoint.
I’m also going to do episodes where I share the key levers you need to pull within each of the four quadrants.
So make sure you mark your calendar for the upcoming episodes. They come out every Wednesday.

[00:12:45] In fact, if you haven’t yet, there are two ways you can make sure you don’t miss them. The first is to subscribe or to follow the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Just head to Apple podcast or stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Search for Lean Leadership for Ops Managers and select the follow button. That’s usually what it’s called anyways. Follow.

[00:13:08] The second is for you to get on my mailing list. Head to https://processplusresults.com/podcast/ and fill out the form in a little box. You will get an email every Wednesday with the details and the link to the new podcast episode.

[00:13:24] In the meantime, here’s your next step.
I want you to reflect on your own needs and desires. From your perspective, what makes an organization a best place to work? How important are each of these elements to you: purpose, participation, performance, progression, how important is each of those to you?
If you’ve been in a situation maybe currently or in the past where you don’t or didn’t particularly enjoy working for your organization, then think about these elements of purpose, participation, performance and progression. Which of these seem to cause heartburn for you? Where was the gap? Where did you have a need that wasn’t being met?

And again, mark your calendar, because we’re going to have a great time over the next several episodes digging into what you need to do as an operations executive or leader to make this happen in your organization.
Until next time.